At the beginning of every journey, there is a point where you ask yourself, “What am I doing here?” And I truly have that point in mind right now. In all honesty, at this point in time, I virtually know very little in practical application to the world known as Aquaponics. It’s all theory to me right now. I have done a lot of reading and found some very cool things I want to try, but at this point, from this very starting point I am very much like you who have just come on to this site, or seen one of my videos, or looked at one of the many things we are doing.
To give you a point of reference for exploring everything Aquaponics for Sub-Urbia, I am what could be classified as a city dweller. Sure by the time you become acquainted with me and my crew in the future we have dust between our toes and fish poop on our overalls, but as a youth, I felt right at home in this asphalt jungle of ours. It was comfy to know that civilization had my back from the elements of nature. Oh, how wrong that was… but at the time it was very comforting.
Growing up I had seen all that I am looking to bring back to the forefront of society, to the frontal lobes of mankind the items that have been lost to past generations; like growing your own food, preserving food for a long time period, becoming self-sufficient in every way possible from the economic or societal winds that change from time to time. My father had the backyard garden as I was growing up. As an able-bodied youngster, I was set to weed the corn, and water the squash and have my fill of the fresh raw peas in the pods. Oh, yes, I did enjoy me some rhubarb straight from the ground (after you washed off the dirt and all)!
I saw my grandparents, who all lived through the Great Depression in the 1930’s and the actions they took to preserve and take care of the precious and delicious was phenomenal. The distrust of the banking system aside, the way the canned food in bulk for a later day, the way they knew that seasons come and go and we must be prepared for the lean years and mainly how they took that knowledge to help them year in and year out is amazing. That Knowledge that was hard fought and won in the crucible of just living without electricity, refrigeration and air conditioning. Know-how that had been passed down for generations because that was the way it was, not because it was a lifestyle choice.
I, as That Aquaponics Guy, want to bring all that knowledge, know-how, methods, systems, tricks of the trade, insider life hacks that have been lost. First and foremost that of being able to feed yourself, and knowing for a surety you have something to place on your dinner table each evening. But I want to go beyond that, I want to bring back the ways that it took to preserve meats, and vegetable and fruits and anything that has not been processed through a factory and lost nearly all it’s nutritional value. I want to bring back the self-assurance that besides any calamity, or economic circumstance that you as a person and your family will be ok. Getting back to the basics that our grandparents, great-grandparents, and even our great-great-grandparents knew, and did on a daily basis.
Why is that? Why would someone want to have that knowledge and know-how, to have any practical use for it? With every technological advancement that has brought wonder in this world, it also has brought with it a dependency or a relying upon what it made simple or streamlined or automated. Nearly all of us are one or two paychecks away from devastation. One giant Electro-Magnetic Pulse away from living in the wild west days. One currency collapse, or wrong presidential policy, or natural disaster that would bring us to our knees and begging on the streets if we didn’t have and know how to use what we have on this site. Come what may I and mine intend to live life to it’s fullest, bar none to what happens around us. That is why I feel compelled to do all that is That Aquaponics Guy.
Recently, because I am aware of what is happening around us, and anyone who is not asleep at the way the world is turning nowadays have cause for concern. I asked myself, would what I am doing now to provide for my family hold up under the pressures… the answer is a resounding “No!” I then turned inward, searching my soul, and found that budding sub-urbian farmer. That is where I hope to bring as many along as I can, to have the right knowledge for their day and time. of peace or turmoil, come what may.
